Recently I’ve been reading a book called Karma and Reincarnation, by Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama. (He’s the teacher that created a lot of the Spiritual Healing work I’ve been studying under Dr. Richard Jelusich.) I thought I knew a few things about karma, but I am learning a ton.

I also read this great blog about the spiritual shift that is happening in our world today. A lot of us are being called to release the negative attachments we have (karma), and do it now, so that we can collectively move toward a more peaceful, positive society.

I would have been content to read about these things and consider them philosophically. The Universe, however, is more concerned with getting things done.

A few days ago, someone tried to post a troll on my blog. (A troll is a comment that is often insulting and egotistical, with no real relevance to the topic, posted with the intention of attracting other frivolous remarks and attention.)

I don’t believe in censorship, so I actually considered publishing it. However, I also don’t publish spam or hate mail, so I ended up deleting it. I assumed that he was just a kid who was surfing the net leaving rude remarks on people’s blogs and never coming back.

Oddly enough, the troll came back. Of course he did. I had a karmic connection to him at this point. (And who knows, maybe it goes back to a previous lifetime. Maybe I scrawled some awful graffiti on the wall of his hut a thousand years ago.)

Karmic connections result not only from what we do to (or for) others, but also from the emotional and mental attachments around them. It is possible that I attracted this guy into my life because I still have issues with bullies and insults that I have not entirely forgiven or released. In other words, the karma might be a general issue in my life, and nothing to do with him personally.

His next comment was about how I’m a hypocrite for preaching non-judgement and forgiveness, and then judging him and deleting his comments. (That comment isn’t being published either.) Now, maybe I’m creating more karma by paying attention to it instead of just deleting it and moving on, but I would actually like to learn from this.

If I do not deal with the negative attachments I have to the issues here – if I do not release the karma and move on – I will keep attracting him and people like him into my life.

If I try to defend myself by attacking him in return, I will create more bad karma. (Not to mention, enable the negative behavior.) And if I delete his comments and call him bad names in my head, I will create more bad karma.

If I forgive him and treat him with compassion… then who knows? Hopefully, good karma. What if I try to contact him and open up a civil conversation? Is it worth it? How do you talk to a troll? Is it better to forgive and forget, or reach out with compassion?

I know that if I talk to him before I forgive him, nothing good can come of it. If I talk to him from a place of compassion and forgiveness, then it’s partly up to him whether anything good will come of it. I cannot change the attitudes of another person, but I can open the door to good karma.

Common sense would dictate that I should not “feed the trolls” – in other words, ignore the inflammatory comments completely without a second thought. But common sense has not helped us evolve our souls beyond the karmic soup we currently find ourselves in. Spiritually, we are “still waking up,” and it’s fun to experiment with new ways of practicing compassion and forgiveness.

If you have any constructive and relevant comments, please feel free to leave them.